If anyone thinks that a repeat performance of that would improve the situation, then they should be rushed to a mental institution for immediate, and possible permanent, confinement as quickly as possible!

"If anyone thinks that a repeat performance of that would improve the situation, then they should be rushed to a mental institution for immediate, and possible permanent, confinement as quickly as possible!"

i agree.
i think what makes this picture sum up the current problems is the fact that this was supposed to happen on the phillipines. not once is the question raised why he was there and if in fact those "terrorist" were just people defeding their home turf against foreign invaders.

Politically correct abhorance at such a monstrous act put aside for a moment, the article does bring up an interesting question.

The only way you can stop terrorists (or any other crime) is to provide a realistic and credible threat to something they value. Most criminals value threir lives and/or their freedom, so you can threaten to take that away from them. But when the criminals are not only not afraid to die, but actually seek death and martyrdom with the promise of paradise, what can be done to disuade them?

The Pershing myth is one of finding a way of taking away the promise of martyrdom and paradise. As repugnant as the tactic may be to our western sensibilities, I am quite sure that if everyone who has to pick up the pieces after a terrorist bomb made it known that the body parts of the suicide bomber (which can usually be identified) would be buried along with a few strips of lard, you'd find that the number of volunteers for such suicide missions would drop significantly, saving many lives.

It may not be true, and may not be desirable to be repeated if it were, but you have got to like the train of though.

That is one of the reasons why the terrorists are making a big production of the Americans that they are beheading. They hope the video's of that discourages the forces of truth and justice from fighting their evil.

You really think that burrying suicide bombers with "a few pounds of lard" will change anything? Since they're already riding along on a hugely skewed interpretation of the Quoran, why do you think they'd not be able to dig up a few new misinterpretations that essentially say that being burried by infidels with parts of unclean animals is like being a martyr after being a martyr by blowing yourself up to kill other people?

Face it, people - it wouldn't only be absolutely unacceptable, but it also simply wouldn't work.

I might be wrong about this, but quite a while ago I seem to recall reading somwhere that in Israel they were hanging bags of pig entrails or bodies in buses to dissuade terrorist attacks on buses. Of course Jews are also not allowed to touch pork either so Im not sure if it is true or not.

"Comments: According to Dr. Frank E. Vandiver, professor of history at Texas A&M University and author of "Black Jack: The Life and Times of John J. Pershing," the above tale is apocryphal. "This story is hard to stop!" he wrote in answer to my email query. 'I never found any indication that it was true in extensive research on his Moro experiences. This kind of thing would have run completely against his character.' "
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_black_jack_pershing.htm

Doesn't seem to be true, Urbanlegands is usually a pretty good source with a lot of citations and, in this case, expert opinions.

No. But I never claimed to know it didn't happen. In fact, I don't know whether it happened or not. Yet I have a problem when people 'claim' to KNOW things, but then fail to back up those claims. Klaus claimed it was a myth, and provided a source to back up that statement. You claimed it wasn't, yet failed to provide a source. So for the moment I'm swinging towards the 'it's a myth' thesis, for obvious reasons.

The one thing is that the Americans had absolutely NO business to be in the Philippines at this time.
The Philippines used to be a Spanish colony ( 1521 - 1898, actualy the Spanish never managed to subdue the Muslims in the south).
Starting from the mid 19th century there was a rebellion developing in the Philippines against the Spanish colonialists (Rizal, Bonifacio, Aquinaldo, the Katipunan-movement, short KKK, etc., but there have been local rebellions going on in all region, the Roman-Catholic ones as well during the whole time of Spanish rule).
The poet and doctor Rizal, the intellectual leader of the rebelion was executed by the Spanish in 1896.
In April 1898 the American battleship Maine exploded in the Cuban port of Havanna (at this time a Spanish colony), leading to the Spanish American war. Spain lost the war and as a result lost it´s colonies in America and Asia.
Most Filipinos, based on the American history (indepence war) saw the Americans as a help against Spanish colonial rule, esp. after the Americans destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila bay and hoped finaly to get national independence. General Aquinaldo declared the independence of the Philippines after helping the Americans in the war against the Spanish.
Most Filipinos were deeply disappointed, when instead of letting the Philippines become independent, the US declared the Philippines to be their colony after the treaty of Paris. The in meantime accepted constitution and the new President Aquinaldo were not recognised by the US government. After some Filipinos have been shot by the American Army, Aquinaldo´s revolutionary congress declared war against the US.
This lead to an armed rebellion (American -Filipino war) which lasted until 1911. It was the first Guerilla war in Asia, with 4200 American casualities, 16000 Filipino guerillas and 200000 Filipino civilians. BTW, this rebellion again included both Muslims and Christians.
Even though the Americans developed the country quite a bit, resentments kept going on.
Only FDR wanted to end the colonial rule in 1943 and started from the 1930s on to replace American colonial officers with local people.
Unfortunately the Japanese invaded in 1941 and Filipino guerillas found themselves suddenly fighting side by side with American troops against the Japanese, which eased the relations. In 1946 the Philippines became finaly independent after a referendum.
The US government still kept on interfering in this country, not the last due to pressure by big fruit companies (Dole, Del Monte), which own huge pineapple and sugar cane plantations, esp. in the Muslim south.
President Magsaysay, who started reforms, also against the local plantation owner´s aristocracy got killed under misterious circumstances in a plane crash.
The dictator Ferdinand Marcos could have never stayed in power for such a long time (20 years) without outside support.
Sorry about my rant, but due to family connections (my daughter is half-Filipinab)I´ve got a personal interest in the Philippines

The Germans never had any business in France, England, Poland, Austria, or the rest of Europe.......but they went there and murdered millions of people. It took a lot more than pigs blood to put an end to them. If it takes bullet's covered in pigs blood to stop what's going on with terrorism, then I think that we can spare a few pigs.

Yes, we did have business there. Had we abandoned the Phillippines after the war we would have done them a disservice. Yes, Marcos was a real problem, but we did not interfere with their internal politics without the request of the government (just like many people seem to want today) and when we finally did intervene militarily it was at the request of the Chamorros government who asked for air support against the Marcos supporters.

The Moro insurrections still continue to this day. DId we belong there? I'll say this, the Filipinos were much happier with the US than they were with the Spanish. We actually set a timetable to leave their country as we did not wish for an empire.

Terrorism will last as long as there are people who will parley and negotiate with terrorists as a way of avoiding further attacks. In other words, as long as terrorism gets terrorists what they want, they will continue to do it. The only way to stop it is to not give in.

Black Jack Pershing ,so nicknamed (as a backfired slight against him by racist superiors) for his teaching at negro schools [period term] and his long service with the 10th Cavalry, Buffalo Soldiers, including leading the charge up Kettle Hill alongside the 1st Volunteer Cavalry led by Teddy ROosevelt) was a man who would almost undoubtedly avoid making such a mistake. His biographies not only do not show such an event, but they clearly indicate that he would not have done this. He did defeat the Moro Sultan of Bacolod by attacking a series of outposts to weaken the Sultans forces, then striking the main Moro entrenchments.

Is my Pan Am ticket to the moon still good?

25 Nancy
: Gen. Pershing sounds like a pretty interesting person, I think I might put him on my biographies to read list.

26 MD11Engineer
: The timetable was only set under FDR. Before it was more a matter of American sugar cane planters fearing competition from Asia. And about the Filipin